Developing ambitious and equitable practices Jessica Thompson & Sara Hagenah

1. Developing ambitious and equitable practicesJessica Thompson & Sara Hagenah

2. A commitment to equity • “Our commitment to equity will determine the future” (Darling-Hammond, 2007) • What are the challenges to learning ambitious & equitable science teaching practices? • Compartmentalizing equitable practices- standards, teacher ed, curriculum (Jackson & Cobb, 2010) • 13% of K-12 math and science lessons were highly respectful & rigorous (HRI, 2003) NARST 2011 Orlando

3. What might ambitious and equitable teaching sound like? NARST 2011 Orlando

4. Learning to focus ideas in the classroom S: Would ash be considered a physical change? Like an egg? S: So we did an example of melted cheese. Intern: So what did we just have in the back of the class? S: We thought also that it was physical changes even though it comes after melting and boiling. S: I don’t agree with that because even though there was a color change CO2 was emitted so the identity of the log would have had to have changed Mentor Teacher: Does anyone have something to add to this? … Intern: Raise your hand if you have seen a fire burning…so is it possible that a physical change is happening? • Students’ stories • Participation • Working on students’ ideas NARST 2011 Orlando

5. Mentor Teacher: so this is chemistry. Let’s think about this at an atomic level…What makes up an egg? S: Elements S: Potassium Intern: Be specific S: Proteins, and when we cook proteins the proteins change Intern: What does it look like? What happens when it cooks? [TC draws on board and shows a tightly bound protein and an unwound protein.] S: So it is breaking and forming bonds S: It expanded because of heat. When it heated they [bonds] move apart rather than together. • Students’ stories • Participation • Working on students’ ideas NARST 2011 Orlando

6. Breaking down the action in classrooms 178 classroom observations of 37 novice teachers ---------- 40 observations with 8 intern & mentor teacher NARST 2011 Orlando

7. Levels of responsiveness in practice • BSI Responding to and building on students’ scientific ideas • PART Responding to participation structures and the building of a community • STORY Responding to students’ lived experiences and building scientific stories • S1: A red giant is a star that expands. • S2: it’s basically a star that got big and it’s red. • S3: It’s like a car that ran out of fuel. • S1: How do you know that for sure? • T: What is your evidence for running out of fuel? NARST 2011 Orlando

8. Levels of responsiveness in practice • BSI Responding to and building on students’ scientific ideas • PART Responding to participation structures and the building of a community • STORY Responding to students’ lived experiences and building scientific stories T: What is your evidence for running out of fuel? S1: How do you know it is running out of fuel? What’s your evidence? S3: Hydrogen is running out. NARST 2011 Orlando

9. Levels of responsiveness in practice • BSI Responding to and building on students’ scientific ideas • PART Responding to participation structures and the building of a community • STORY Responding to students’ lived experiences and building scientific stories NARST 2011 Orlando

10. Funneling vs. Focusing ideas in practice • Science ideas- • theoretical & • unobservable • Science ideas- • theoretical & • unobservable Funneling Focusing NARST 2011 Orlando

11. Website: http://tools4teachingscience.org In appreciation of funding from: NARST 2011, Orlando

12. A beginner’s repertoire Our understanding of a beginner’s repertoire of ambitious and equitable teaching looks like: • 1) Most novice teachers beginning repertoire includes level 1 BSI and PART, they are not on the STORY scale-many times missed STORY opportunities • 2) At the end of student teaching, some novice teachers working with students in small groups move up to a level 2 in BSI and PART and their practice is coupled with high rigor NARST 2011 Orlando